Smart Car---any conveyor troubles?

[carnut2]

What is the story on the smart car? Is any one having problems?

Customer comes in says he has never been to our wash and always hand washes his smart car. Goes thru and instantly claims we have scratched the roof of his car.

We show him digital video of his car wash and how the equipment was no where near his hood. Problem solved, right.

Five days later, same guy same car (second time he has ever been to any car wash) And his car's rocker panel blows off in the dryer.

Now, it is a lease and only four months old, but there had to be previous damage to have the entire side panel blow off in the dryer.

So are they too wimpy to wash?

 

[Waxman]

Assuming the car is fairly centered under the blowers, common sense would dictate that both rocker panels would blow off if it were a direct result of the blowers and/or the car being too wimpy.

You're assuming only one side is too wimpy and that doesn't make sense.

Gotta be another reason it blew off (broken clip,etc).

 

[Earl Weiss]

Due to the narrowness of the Smartcar the Driver side would be much closer to the Blower than the passenger side.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Sounds like a manufacture defect.
I would definitely have your insurance company come out and show them everything you can that shows nothing touched the car that caused the rocker panel to come off.
That it must have been the blower. Blowers just don't blow off rocker panels. Therefor it must be a manufacturer defect or had previous damage.
You have washed xxxxxxxx amount of cars and have never had this happen.

 

[MEP001]

Due to the narrowness of the Smartcar the Driver side would be much closer to the Blower than the passenger side.

But the driver side of a Smart car won't be any closer to the blower than any other vehicle.

Jm is on the right track. Hand it over to your insurance and let them refuse to pay (Which they almost certainly will because they won't be able to determine negligence on your part).

 

[carnut2]

Smart Car of America has a nice website that was helpful. On the web was a lot of speculation about whether the smart car could go through a car wash. Smart Car's reply is that during the reveal of the Smart Car, they washed the cars in "42 Zillion" times in all kinds of washes, conveyor, in bay, touchless, etc. without incident.

The most common complaint on their site was that the space sensors of the conveyor left ample room around the smart car to the point where they may not get as clean as other cars.

I did find one respondent that had the same panel blow off in the dryer cycle, just like our customers, and it was the plastic clips that hold the panel in place were faulty.

Others had the panel fall off when they were applying after market effects to the bottom of the car.

So my guy with the 4 month old car should probably see his dealer for a defect in installation.

 

[pitzerwm]

In light of the fact that he came in and tried to scam you before, and now came back, personally, I wouldn't have washed him. But I'd recommend that you send him to his insurance company and if they want to call you then deal with it. If he had previous damage which I believe that you said, case closed.